A putrid excuse for Wonderful Town!! - My Sister Eileen (1955) Discussion

[–] Jungle_Red 18 years ago

I disagree, I think this is much more clever and entertaining than "Wonderful Town". And as funny as Rosalind Russell is, she can't sing like Betty Garrett.

"Where's the sherbert, mother?"
"It's there, beneath the layer of protective ice..."

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[–] Zymm 17 years ago

I usually don't compare films and I thought this was quite charming. I loved watching Dick York and Janet Leigh singing and dancing after knowing them only as Darrin and Rosie. The entire cast was fun to watch, especially Tommy Rall; what a talent! Sometimes one just requires fluff!

... I admire a person that's willing to do whatever is necessary.

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[–] Ten-Inch-Toni 10 years ago

I could be wrong but I think you mean Bob Fosse and Janet Leigh not Dick York.

You can find this on YouTube.

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[–] jgbook2007 17 years ago

...FWIW , I believe that the reason that this film did not include Wonderful Town is thet the studio ( Columbia?? ) DID NOT HAVE THE RIGHTS TO THE BROADWAY SHOW " WONDERFUL TOWN " .
They had the rights to the initial source , " My Sister Eileen " , from their earlier movie . I believe they made , therefore , their own musicalization of " MSE " , this movie , without permossion from the " WT " producers .
IIRC , there was a live TV version of " Wonderful Town " , the Broadway show , done in the 50s . ( Perhaps Columbia's previous rights to " MSE " blocked any movie sales to " WT " . If nothing else , obviously , it might have made a movie sale for " WT " unlikely , we hadn't yet reached the A Bug's Life/Bugs ( Or that other example of " double movies " , that Bruce Willis giant asteroid movie , Armegeddon , and , um , the other one !!! ) then . I do think there's other examples of this , though specific to musicals , I can't think of any now .
From another direction , the 80s brought a Broadway musical remake of " LA CAGE AUX FOLLES " , before the 90s non-musical U. S. movie The Birdcage . The Broadway musical even got revived in the 00s...

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[–] MissSugarKane 17 years ago

I love Jack Lemmon's singing in this movie!! I have his album, "A Twist of Lemmon/Some Like It Hot", so I already knew that he sang because I read things that people didn't know that.

"It's bigger than...you and me! It's mad. And yet it's right!!"

Jack Lemmon: America's Sweetheart
"It's Magic Time"

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[–] BlondeVixen 16 years ago

Jack Lemmon had an album of his singing???

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[–] lightkeeper-1 16 years ago

While I enjoyed this film version, I kept thinking of the wonderful score from "Wonderful Town!" Especially "Ohio", "A Quiet Girl" and "It's Love". I'd love to see the TV version made around 1959 although I doubt the quality would be that good. I remember seeing it when I was going to school in Chicago.

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[–] Harold_Robbins 16 years ago

Scenes from the TV version of WONDERFUL TOWN occasionally turn up on YouTube, and complete videos of varying quality have been known to show up on eBay.

"Stone-cold sober I find myself absolutely fascinating!"---Katharine Hepburn

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[–] marknyc 15 years ago

So true - another wonderful Bernstein score lost (along with most of "On The Town").

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[–] Bklyn4ever 15 years ago

Compare the two "Conga" numbers and you just want to cry: "Why-O Why-O Why-O?"

I also miss the Wreck's satirical number about college jocks; it's one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

Just get the CD from the Broadway musical (with Rosalind Russell, if possible--the songs were written with her croaking voice in mind) and listen away!

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[–] jmarkoff2 15 years ago

Wonderful Town had much better music. "Swing" was swinging!

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[–] marvelass 14 years ago

"So true - another wonderful Bernstein score lost (along with most of 'On The Town')."

The MY SISTER EILEEN movie musical was not an adaptation of the Broadway musical WONDERFUL TOWN, so there was no loss. It's its own separate entity. Both are based on the play MY SISTER EILEEN, but each had its own creative team. It's not like the ON THE TOWN movie, which did away with a lot of the original score. However, ON THE TOWN was supposed to be a film adaptation of the Broadway musical, so the loss of much of the score is a tragedy.

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[–] princesstinymeat 11 years ago

I adore Wonderful Town, but I can appreciate My Sister Eileen as a unique adaptation of the source material. Fosse's performance and choreography make it a must-see. I agree with you about the score, though.

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[–] prjdean 10 years ago

I agree - this is a unique version - and it has the best cast of any version of the story. As mentioned , it is also like the the first Fosse musical - and it is great to see him as a performer before he became only a director..(interesting side bar - he and Janet Leigh became romatically involved during the making of it - I belive that she discusses it in her autobiography)

Also there is at least one memorable song by Jules Stein in the film - "I"m Great but No One Knows It".

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